This account is pending registration confirmation. Please click on the link within the confirmation email previously sent you to complete registration.Need a new registration confirmation email? Click here

Loews Corporation (L): Today's Featured Insurance Winner

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

Loews Corporation (
L) pushed the Insurance industry higher today making it today's featured insurance winner. The industry as a whole closed the day up 0.8%. By the end of trading, Loews Corporation rose 50 cents (1.2%) to $41.53 on average volume. Throughout the day, 906,306 shares of Loews Corporation exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 971,900 shares. The stock ranged in a price between $40.98-$41.62 after having opened the day at $41.12 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $41.03. Other companies within the Insurance industry that increased today were:
Hallmark Financial Services (
HALL), up 10.9%,
Phoenix Companies (
PNX), up 7.3%,
Meadowbrook Insurance Group (
MIG), up 6.4%, and
American Independence Corporation (
AMIC), up 5.5%.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Jim Cramer's Protégé, Dave Peltier, only buys Stocks Under $10 that he thinks could potentially double. See what he's trading today with a 14-day FREE pass.

Loews Corporation operates primarily as a commercial property and casualty insurance company. Loews Corporation has a market cap of $16 billion and is part of the financial sector. The company has a P/E ratio of 18.5, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 8% year to date as of the close of trading on Monday. Currently there is one analyst that rates Loews Corporation a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and one rates it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Loews Corporation as a
buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, attractive valuation levels, increase in stock price during the past year, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and increase in net income. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity.

For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the insurance industry could consider
KBW Insurance ETF (
KIE) while those bearish on the insurance industry could consider
Proshares Short Financials (
SEF).